Fresh Corn and Poblano Cream Soup
July 29th, 2010 | 
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When we first moved to Kansas I was overjoyed with the idea of the downtown farmer’s market. The first Saturday after the house was unpacked The Husband and I loaded the car with canvas bags and made our way downtown. We perused the local fair and purchased some organic honey, eggplant and green beans. Then I saw the corn and fell in love, buying a dozen ears. For the two of us.
The afternoon was one of those picture-perfect afternoons. The sun was shining, birds were chirping, the angels sang from on high. It went like this: I spent a few hours in the yard planting my new herbs, roasted some eggplant for a baba ganoush, trimmed the green beans and then set about shucking the corn. That’s when the the sun was covered by clouds, the birds stopped chirping and the angels started laughing.
I grabbed the first ear of corn, began shucking and noticed a big. black. blob. at the end of the corn. I thought to myself, ‘man, I can’t believe it rotted, it looks so healthy.’ I finished that ear and put it aside, grabbing another. Same thing. To this day, I don’t know what possessed me to look, but the big. black. blob. had moved! It was a worm. A worm! In my corn! In my kitchen! The earth shattering scream that came out of my mouth made The Husband come running into the kitchen, gun drawn and frantic looking. I couldn’t speak. I pointed. I cried. I shrieked.
The Husband thought I was being a bit over-dramatic. I refused to touch the remaining corn. I pleaded with him to throw it away. Instead, he stood at the kitchen counter and diligently shucked the remaining corn, each and every one containing a worm(!) that was about an inch in diameter, just chillin at the top of my farmer’s market fresh corn, munching away like he belonged.
I got the last laugh though. Instead of grabbing the kitchen knife to cut the tops off, The Husband grabbed a machete and whacked away. Tough guy, huh? He bundled them all up in freezer bags and kissed me on the forehead as he made his way back outside to do manly things. I promptly took the bags out of the freezer and buried them in the trash where he couldn’t see them.
To this day, I cannot buy fresh corn that hasn’t been shucked at least half of the way. I have to see the top. I’m that lady at the commissary that has her cart filled with trays of half-shucked corn. I pay too much for it, but there’s nothing compared to taste of fresh corn. There also isn’t anything quite like knowing there aren’t any big. black. blobs. in my corn.
This recipe is adapted from one I found in Real Simple earlier this summer. I tweaked it slightly to make it even easier. Please don’t be intimidated by the poblano, the flavor is mild with minimal heat. You can find them next to the fresh jalapeños at the grocery.
Fresh Corn and Poblano Cream Soup
Adapted from Real Simple, serves 41 T olive oil
1 poblano pepper, seeded & chopped
4 Tablespoons butter
1 large onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, chopped
8 ears fresh sweet corn, shucked & cut corn off of the cob
3-4 cups chicken stock
4 Tablespoons heavy cream or half-&-half
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper (or to taste)In a large soup pot, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add poblano pepper and cook until tender and just browned around the edges. Remove from soup pot to a blender. Blend with about 2 T of chicken broth; set aside. I actually waited until the soup came to a boil, took some from the pot and then blended this so the corn flavor was in there as well, but you can do it however you want.
In the same soup pot, still over medium heat, melt the butter. Add onions and garlic and cook until tender and fragrant but not browned. Add corn kernels to the onions and garlic; stir. Season with salt and pepper. Add the chicken broth and bring to a slight boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer for 15-20 minutes until the corn is slightly tender.
If you have an immersion blender, go ahead and blend about 1/2 of the soup in the pot. If you have a stand-blender, transfer soup, 2 cups at a time to blender and pulse until slightly smooth. Return the blended corn to the soup pot and repeat until you’ve blended approximately half to the soup.
To serve, ladle the soup into soup bowls, pour 1 tablespoon of heavy cream or half-and-half on top and then about a tablespoon of the poblano puree. This is simply for show because I promise you’ll want to stir that poblano cream into the soup to have a little taste with every bite.
*To cut the corn from the cob: shuck the corn, stand it up on a non-slippery cutting board and cut the kernels off of the cob by running your knife from top to bottom, pressing up against the cob. See here for a how-to picture.
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